Living the Supernatural Life, Part 2 (Romans Sermon 96)

There are three thoughts that bring me joy every day of my life, and all three are focused on the person of Christ. One of them has to do with the past, one of them has to do with the present and one of them has to do with the future.

Concerning the past, it brings me constant delight to know that all of my sins are forgiven through the blood of Christ, much as a candle has been extinguished in an ocean of grace. Just to know that my sin can’t even compare with the provision for it, that brings me great joy today. And in that I stand right now up to this very moment, all of my sins in the past are forgiven through the blood of Christ. Isn’t that wonderful? Concerning the present, it’s a magnificent thing for me to know that Jesus has given me work of eternal consequence to do today, and He will give me everything I need to do that work today. And concerning the future, that someday I will see Jesus face-to-face, therefore all of my best things are yet to come, and nothing, no power in heaven or earth or under the earth can take that from me. Those three things bring me great joy to today. Amen. And so you’ve had your three-part sermon. I’m done, and so we’ll just close in prayer.

No, there are some practicalities as we look back at that second one. Today God is calling on me and you to live supernaturally for His glory, He’s calling on us to do things we ordinarily couldn’t do, and He’s calling on us to live by the power of the Spirit of God. Now, unlike I mentioned last week, like Peter walking on the water, that’s not likely to be something He’s going to call you to do today, although if He did call you, He would give you enough power to do it, as He did for Peter. But rather the truth of the incarnation, the truth of Emmanuel, God with us, the truth of Jesus coming down from heaven to earth is that Jesus cares about everyday, ordinary life.

He cares how you and I eat our food, He cares how you and I interact with each other in the hall, He cares how you and I deal with brothers and sisters in Christ, how we deal with strangers. He cares about these things, and He knows that only by the power of the Holy Spirit of God can we lift those ordinary encounters into something sublime, something supernatural of eternal consequence, and that’s what He’s calling on us to do in Romans 12. Now, last week, I’d set the context for you. We’ve had 11 chapters of doctrine. These ethical commands in Romans 12 are not coming out of nowhere, but rather they are the fruit of all of the doctrine that we have learned in Romans 1-3, that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God that we apart from him, can do nothing good, that our mouths are full of cursing and bitterness, and our feet are swift to shed blood, all those things in Romans 3, that’s what we were apart from Christ.

We also learned in Romans 3 that through the blood of Jesus Christ, our atoning sacrifice, all of our sins have been forgiven. Through faith in his blood we stand cleansed, as I just mentioned a moment ago. And how we are in Romans chapter 6, no longer slave to sin, we’re called to a whole new realm of existence. We’re in a whole new country, as it were, with new rules and new ways of living. And yes, we still struggle with the body of death, Romans 7, but through the indwelling spirit, Romans 8, we can live as more than conquerors, and that this sovereign grace that God is giving us, Romans 9-11, it’s so irresistible, so powerful that it will have its way with us, and that we can hold firm to it and nothing can steal our hope, and so therefore we can get busy in the Christian life on that solid foundation.

If I can speak a little more directly, this supernatural life that we’re talking about this morning can only be lived by Christians. It can only be lived by people who have trusted in Jesus, who have the indwelling spirit, but if that’s you, if that’s you, today, he’s calling on you to live like this. Now, last week, we talked about the supernatural life. It begins in the heart with un-hypocritical love, a genuine love. It also begins with a burning zeal for the glory of God, there’s a fire inside us and that we must stir that fire up, we must never be lacking in zeal, but keep our spirit’s of fervor serving the Lord. And a dear brother this week said, “Did you miss verse 10? I just wanted to know if you were skipping it or whatever,” and I, “No, I didn’t, I just wanted to combine these two heart elements of an un-hypocritical love and a burning zeal together.”

It starts in there, but it’s hard to make a strong delineation between what’s inside and what’s outside here. It begins with the heart, we saw last week. Now, this morning, we’re going to look at three other aspects of the supernatural life that God through the Apostle Paul is calling on us to live. First of all, the supernatural and very practical love for the family of God. And secondly, we’re going to talk about a supernatural hospitality and generosity, and third, supernatural joy in trials.

I. Supernatural Love for the Family of God

Let’s look at the first, a supernatural love for the family of God. Look at verse 10, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor one another above yourselves.” Upon being saved, you and I, as we are trusted in Christ, we entered into the worldwide family of God through faith in Christ. It’s an international family, there are people from almost every tribe and language and people and nation, and some day it’ll be every tribe and people and nation. Amen. I’m looking forward to that. But it’s a worldwide body of Christ, it’s made up of people in every station of life economically, made up of both genders, of all ages, it’s made up in a beautiful way of people from all walks of life. That’s what you entered into.

Now, this family, this supernatural family, is supernatural in origin. You enter it not in the natural way, but supernaturally. We’re not all children of God in that sense. You have to be born again into the family of God, and so it says in John 1, “Yet to all who received Him [Christ], to those who believe in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, children born not of natural descent nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.” That’s the supernatural origin of my connection with the family of God, and it’s happened to people all over the world, that’s how we enter. God, therefore, is our eternal Father. Every other Christian is my brother or sister in Christ. Jesus is our head, he’s also our elder brother. You could put it that way, for it says in Hebrews 2:11, “Jesus is not ashamed to call them [and us] brothers.”

Isn’t it amazing, then, sometimes how we are ashamed of Jesus. How could we ever be ashamed of Jesus? He’s not ashamed of us, and he’s not ashamed, it says to call us brothers. This family is united by the Spirit and by truth, we all believe the same things about God and about Christ, about sin and hell and death, about heaven, about justification, about the blood of Christ. We believe these same things and so doctrine unites us, and also the indwelling Spirit unites us. By the Spirit we are one family.

Now, love for the family of God is the inevitable fruit of true saving faith. Let me say that again. Love for the family of God is the inevitable fruit of true saving faith. Let me turn it around. Basically, if you don’t love other Christians, you’re not a Christian yourself. And first John tells us that very plainly in a number of places, first John 5:1 says, “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves the child as well.”

You can’t love the father and not love the father’s children, and so therefore you’ve got to love the family of God if you’re a Christian. Turning it around more negatively. First John 4:20 says, “If anyone says I love God and yet hates his brother, he is a liar, for anyone who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.” Now, this love is the very thing that Paul is commanding here in verse 10. “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor one another above yourselves.” Now, sadly, it doesn’t always happen this way, does it? I actually was reading a book this week about a conflict in a church that ended up in an open fist fight right in front of the communion table. Can you imagine that? I can’t, but I know that that kind of extreme fruit, actually trace it back, the roots of it are in our hearts, aren’t they?

We can have conflicts, we can have divisions with each other, even though we’re better mannered than that so we don’t end up in someone’s Christian book as an illustration. But the divisions are there, we can disagree and it’s an old problem too. The Corinthian church was rife with strife and conflict and factions. In Philippians, Euodia and Syntyche couldn’t get along, couldn’t agree with each other in the Lord. Even our author here, Paul, had a problem with Barnabas over John Mark, right, so I’m not saying he didn’t practice what he preached, it’s just what he preached is difficult to do, and there are going to be times that there’s going to be disagreements, conflicts like between Paul and Barnabas over John Mark.

But yet in the Book of Acts we see a contrast, we see local churches actually living this kind of thing out. We see them devoting themselves every day to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and a prayer. We see the way they used to sell their possessions and their goods and give to anyone as he had need. They didn’t consider that their possessions were their own, but they shared everything that they had, even to the point of selling houses and real estate and putting at the apostles’ feet. An amazingly generous collection was taken up among Greek believers for the poor among the saints in Jerusalem, and so we see a Jew-Gentile unity there through the sacrificial giving that went on. That’s what the church was like in the Book of Acts.

And we see a church that’s characterized by supernatural boldness in dealing with the outside world, boldness in preaching the Gospel, boldness in facing persecution. That’s what the church was like. And so here in verse 10, it was lived out, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love, honor one another above yourself.” Now, as we look at that first half, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.” Paul combines two Greek words for love, and one of them just has to do with an open display of affection, of genuine affection, and the other just has to do with a family connection, like the love of a brother, a sister, for one another, because they’re in the same family, and he combines the two of them together. This is pictured so many times in the Book of Acts toward Paul.

You remember how Paul, at the end of Acts 20 when he’s with the elders from the Ephesian church, they’re all weeping that they would never see Paul again, then the very next chapter, there’s the church at Tyre and they all go to the beach and they’re begging him not to go to Jerusalem, and when they see that they can’t persuade him not to go, they kneel down on the beach, all the wives and the little ones in the church, and they’re just all huddled together praying. And then he gets up from there and goes to the next community and he stays at the home of Philip the Evangelist, who had seven daughters, who prophesied and he opened up his home in hospitality to them, and he goes from them and stays at the home of Mnason, and he opens up his home, Acts 21. One household after another, one local church after another displaying this brotherly love and this devotion. It’s a beautiful thing.

Now, I think a beautiful picture of this in the Old Testament is Joseph, whose brothers sold him as a slave into Egypt, and then after their father died, they were afraid that he was going to take his revenge finally, he was waiting for Jacob to die, so they thought, and so they come basically crawling in on their knees begging him not to punish them. And he is deeply moved, he weeps over this, Joseph, and he says, “Am I in the place of God? You meant it for evil against me, but God meant it for good.” And then it says so beautifully in Genesis 50, that he spoke kindly to them and reassured them and he said that he would provide for all of their needs. That’s a good picture of the brotherly love here. We don’t always do well by each other, do we? But we’ve got to have that theological perspective that Joseph had, you meant it for evil but God meant it for good. And I love you and I’ll provide for you, I’ll do what I can for you to help you. That’s a picture of his brotherly love and his devotion.

Now, I think the scripture here emphasizes humility, it’s a foundation to this. Honor one another above yourselves. Prefer others ahead of yourself, think of them as better than you are, seek to meet their needs ahead of meeting your own. Think of issues from their point of view rather than from your own point of view. I think foundational to this is seeing other brothers and sisters as they will be someday, while you see yourself as you are right now.

And Bunyan pictures this so beautifully in Pilgrim’s Progress part 2, when Christiana is there with her children and Mercy, and they’re in the interpreter’s house and he gives all of them clothing, representing their right standing with God, their purity in God’s sight. But what’s so interesting is they cannot see their own clothes as glorious, but only those of the others. And so they’re kind of… Bunyan said that the clothes were a terror to each one of them, because they only saw the other as glorious and not themselves, and so it is in the Christian life. We know our own sin, don’t we? We can see it. And it’s hard for us to imagine that some day we’ll be perfect and glorious and we will be. But in terms of our humility and dealing with one another, we say, “Some day this brother, this sister is going to be glorious in Christ.” And you see them that way. Lewis points us out in his great sermon, Weight of Glory, “We treat each other as though some day they will be glorious in Christ.”

And you look at how the apostle Paul dealt with this in 1 Timothy 1, he said, “I am the greatest of all sinners,” and he’s talking about how he persecuted the church, but notice the tense of the verb. He didn’t say, “I was the great, the chief of all sinners,” he doesn’t say that. “I am the chief of all sinners,” that’s the way he carries himself, the way he thinks of himself.

We honor each other above ourselves. Interestingly, the ESV emphasizes almost a holy competition here. “Outdo one another, in showing honor.” That’s one translation, like, let’s have a contest and let’s see who can honor the other more, let’s see who can serve more. Churches divide over some of the strangest things, decorating schemes, colors of things; even more significant things like worship styles or evangelistic strategies or things like that can be sources of division. But here we are to prefer one another above the others.

That doesn’t mean we sacrifice truth for unity. That’s not what we’re talking about, but there’s a sense of, “I want to see things from your point of view, I want to try to understand your convictions because they matter to me.” And so we should try to see who can be the most humble, let’s outdo one another, as the ESV gives us, “outdo one another in showing honor.”

I love the illustration. I’ve talked to others about this before, of George Whitfield, who was in a controversy with John Wesley over the doctrine of predestination. And someone came and asked Whitfield, “Do you think you’ll see Wesley in Heaven?” And he said, “No, I don’t, he said, “I think he’ll be so close to the throne of Christ and I’ll be so far away that I don’t think I’ll catch a glimpse of him there.” You have to know Whitfield to know that that wasn’t just an act. That’s the way he really thought. There was a genuine humility there. Outdo one another in honoring others ahead of yourself.

II. Supernatural Hospitality and Generosity

The second aspect of the supernatural life is supernatural hospitality and generosity. Look at verse 13, there it says, “Share with God’s people who are in need and practice hospitality.” This is going to be a big part of how we are devoted to one another in brotherly love, this issue of hospitality. The word that Paul gives us here is one of pursue, pursue generous hospitality. Make it your business to find ways to be hospitable. Think about it, think about how you can open up your life, open up your home, open up your heart to others, pursue it. Now, the word for hospitality literally means love for strangers or outsiders. And the foundation’s in the Old Testament, when God says, for example, in Leviticus 19 verse 33 and 34, it says, “When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. I am the Lord your God.” Isn’t that marvelous?

Don’t you remember how it used to be for you in Egypt, how you were aliens? Do to others in effect what you’d have them do to you. Treat them the way you would have wanted to have been treated in Egypt, not necessarily the way you were treated, but the way you wish you’d been treated when you were an alien, an outsider. It gets even stronger in the New Testament, when Jesus in the sheep and the goats teaching says he’s going to gather all the nations before him, and separate them one from another, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he’s going to put the sheep on the right and the goats on the left. And he’ll say to those on his right, “Come you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in.”

In other words, people’s eternal destiny will be put on display by how they treat other Christians. because at the end, he says, “Anyone who does one of the least of these things, to the least of these brothers of mine, you do it to me.” There’s a connection to the church of which he is head, and if you treat somebody like this, it’s like you’re treating Christ that way. Very strong teaching.

An even deeper concept is the idea that when it comes to heaven, we are all aliens and strangers, aren’t we? I mean, naturally apart from Christ. Ephesians 2 tells us we were at that time, aliens and strangers and outsiders. That’s what it says in Ephesians 2:12-13, it says, “Remember that at that time you were separate from Christ, excluded from citizenship in Israel and foreigners to the covenants of the promise, without hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus, you who were once far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.” We were aliens, were outsiders and now God has opened himself up and brought you in. And so it says in Ephesians 2-19. So you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you’re fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household.

We’re going to Heaven on the basis of God’s hospitality. He’s opening himself up to aliens and strangers through the work of Jesus Christ on the cross, and he’s opening up his home, he’s opening up his table, he’s saying, “Come sit with me.” And one of the sweetest things ever is the idea of God and man at table are sat down, someday we’re going to sit down at the table with God. Now, that’s hospitality, it’s the foundation of what he’s calling on us to do, to welcome the stranger.

Now, in the New Testament, it’s very practical and foundational. The basic concept is when you’re traveling, you’re on the road, there’s not many other places to stay. Now, I’m not going to say not any places, because you know that there was no room in the inn for Joseph and Mary, so there were inns. And you know the parable of the good Samaritan, he puts him up in an inn, and they were there but there were not as many as we have today.

Certainly no Holiday Inn. There’s no Tom Bodett leaving the lights on for you at Motel 6, that wasn’t happening. Certainly no Hyatt or Ritz-Carlton. For the most part also, as Christians, they didn’t want to stay at the homes of unbelievers. And so you really wanted to stay, in a very practical way, you wanted to stay with believers as you’re on the road. Well, Christ’s first missionary instructions in Matthew 10, he sends them out without any extra bag or tunic and sandals or staff, without any extra money, nothing, just sends them out. And if there’s an immediate practical problem on this mission trip, where are we going to stay?

And he says, “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. If the home is deserving let your peace rest on it. If it is not, let your peace return to you.” So the idea is you find a base of operations in a town, and based on hospitality, you stand and you do your ministry there. And at the end of Matthew 10, Jesus pronounces eternal rewards for the people who put them up. “Anyone who receives a prophet because he’s a prophet, will receive a prophet’s reward. Anyone who receives a righteous man because he is a righteous man, will receive a righteous man’s reward, and if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little ones that I’m sending out, [he says] I tell you the truth, he will never lose his reward.”

That’s an eternal reward for hospitality as we’re helping God’s servants that are going out to do his work, Matthew 10. Now, later on, the apostles are totally dependent on it. Peter was staying at the home of Simon the Tanner who lived by the sea in Acts 10 when the messengers came from Cornelius’ house, he was a Gentile, that’s how the whole Gentile church began, and so it’s at Simon the Tanner’s house that he’s staying. It was his base of operations there. And then he’s willing to go with a bunch of other Jewish brothers and he is actually willing to enter across the threshold of a Gentile home and share the gospel with them. And afterwards, Acts 11 applies, they sat down and ate a meal together. So he was willing to receive hospitality. Sometimes that’s hard, it’s easier to give it than receive it. Have you ever felt that way?

But so it is. Here’s the apostle Peter and he’s willing to receive hospitality from Simon the Tanner, who gives it to him, and he’s willing to receive hospitality from the first Gentile convert, there in Caesarea, Cornelius. Even here in the Book of Romans, the Book of Romans is written by a man, the apostle Paul, who is at that moment, receiving hospitality. As it says in Romans 16:23, “Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.” The whole church is based there. House churches were foundational. Lydia opens up her home in Philippi and after she’s converted and baptized, she said, “If you consider me a believer in the Lord Jesus, please come and stay at my home.” And that became the start of the Philippian church. House churches were big in hospitality. Foundational, then.

2 and 3 John, the foundational issue of those two books is hospitality.  Don’t take in a false teacher and show him hospitality or you’ll share in his evil works. 3 John, he’s thanking them for taking in good teachers and sharing in their good works. And so he says in 3 John 5:8, “Dear friend, you are faithful in what you’re doing for the brothers even though they are strangers to you. They have told the church about your love, you will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. It was for the sake of the name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. We ought…” listen, this is 3 John 8, “We ought therefore, to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.” They needed a base of operations and they gave it to them.

And so hospitality is huge. The most intriguing one is, of course, Hebrews 13: 2, which says, “Do not forget to entertain strangers for by so doing some have entertained angels without knowing it.” Wouldn’t that be exciting? Find out on Judgment Day. Oh, he was an angel? You know, I had no idea. Now, I think this is talking about Abraham’s hospitality in Genesis 18, but there it is. Now, what is the situation today in the American church?

How are we on hospitality? Well, first of all, just societally, we have certain problems. First of all, there’s the problem of affluence. One of the problems with affluence is that it breeds isolation. You know what you get for your affluence? You get to be away from people. And you might say, “Why would I want to be away from people?” Well, people are complex. People can be a little messy, people can mess things up, like your living room. And so as a result, you get to have isolation, a kind of a perfect and neat world, and that’s a problem. Another problem is the fluidity of our society, we’re a very fluid society, and therefore very few people feel the need to welcome the newcomer, because they themselves are newcomers, and nobody in takes ownership for the neighborhood. That happens especially in churches where people transfer their membership so frequently that they don’t necessarily feel a sense of ownership for the community to then be hospitable to visitors. They’re asking instead, “Who’s being hospitable to me?”

And I always find a way of saying, “Oh, it’s not a very friendly church.” I’m trying to think, “How do I turn it around,” so I ask, “Were you friendly? How do I do that?” I want to think about that. Oh, the church just wasn’t very friendly. And I have found that people who are friendly receive friendliness back, and so it’s a matter of you don’t look inward anymore, and say, “What am I getting from this church?” But rather, you’re saying, “I want to be open to the visitors, I want to be open myself.” Little by little you find you don’t have a problem with friends at all. So it’s an issue.

Alexander Strauch wrote a book called The Hospitality Commands, and he was talking about an elderly single woman who had to travel more than an hour by bus to a suburban church that she wanted to go to, and she was there for four years, and no one ever invited that lady out or to their home after worship, four years, until the very end when she had announced that she was leaving the church, another elderly lady took her in and they had a meal together on her final Sunday.

Alexander Strauch himself said, “I would go around and I would preach in other places, some two, three, four hours away from where I live. I would get done with the service,” Strauch said. “People would come up, shake my hand, say it was a good message, maybe give me an offering, something like that, invite me back if I’d ever like to come, and then they’d all disappear and there I was, nobody would invite me to their home or give me a place of rest before I had to go back, or maybe there was even an evening service and in between the two services, I had no one to invite me over.”

It can happen, it’s a problem. Now, here at First Baptist Church, I have personally seen and experienced incredible hospitality from members of this church. When we first came here, we stayed at a wonderful Christian family’s home, and I enjoyed that time, that week together, with them. I’ll never forget it. It was an incredible time. Or then there’s the ice storm, 2002, when many people had to get out of their homes because the power went down, for sometimes as much as a week. And it was wonderful to see the way homes were being opened up to widows and the elderly and just people that had to get out of their homes. And we ourselves stayed at two different homes at that time. I’ll never forget, it was beautiful. So we’ve seen that kind of hospitality. One family I know had a ministry in Pennsylvania of hospitality opening up their homes to really undesirable, poverty-stricken people and seeing many of them come to Christ, because they cared more about the people than they did about the quality or the status of their possessions. They were willing to open their home and they’ve done the same thing here, with International Ministry.

I’ve seen many of you open your homes for meals, extended grace to our family and to others. It’s a beautiful thing. I’ve seen it again and again, so there is a wonderful spirit of hospitality here at FBC. But I think we could do even better, I really believe it. And the more I thought about hospitality, the more I think this is strategic for our future ministries. It’s very important, it’s important for developing a sense of community and fellowship. We are very much a commuter church. People drive long distances to get to this church. As a matter of fact, if you went east-most or west-most to the extremities you’re at least a 90-minute travel from one side to the other.

And so it’s very, very difficult for us to have community here if people don’t show hospitality. One of the things we’ve seen develop in the last year are the home fellowships, and people have opened up their homes and they’re willing to have fellowship in their homes, and that’s made all the difference of developing community and fellowship. I think if we don’t keep working at it, though, it’s easy to slip through our fingers. We want to have a community here. We’ll just have a little time on Sunday morning then you go, you go away. There’s got to be hospitality to make it happen, fellowship. It’s also essential to generosity. Here, we’re commanded to share with God’s people who are in need. I think one of the best ways you can do that is open up your home and share your home and your life and your food and other things with people, share with them. Now, obviously, for you to a write generous check and send it to needy Christians in other countries is in obedience to this verse. But I like to combine them. It’s almost like share with God’s people who are in need by pursuing hospitality. You combine them.

Thirdly, also hospitality is strategically vital for evangelism. The gospel itself is weighty, heavy cargo that travels best over a well-built bridge of trust from one person to another. Now, I’m not saying that you can’t do contact evangelism or that it’s not valuable. What I’m saying is, it works best when you really know the people. And so, how about inviting people over your home and having them, I’m talking unbelievers, share a meal with them, reach out to them, in that way. We’ve seen fruit from that even quite recently. It’s a beautiful thing. I think this is especially true for internationals.

My goodness, nowhere do you see the need for hospitality as much as in international ministry. A lot of these folks come from countries where hospitality is ingrained in their nature and they come over here, and they’re amazed at how difficult it is to get into an American home. Some of them study at Duke for two or three years and go home, never having been invited to the home of an American. Never. Now, this is amazing, I found out about a month ago that we have the possibility through Duke University of being a host family for an international student for the first week they spend in the Triangle region before they get situated at Duke. Do you see any possible strategic ministry there for the gospel? Do you think there might be the possibility that during that week, you could build a friendship that would last for a lifetime? That they would get to know you, and that you might actually be able to share the Gospel?

Hospitality, essential to evangelism. If you’re interested in doing something like this with internationals, talk to me or to any of the others are involved in international ministry, if you say I want to be a host family for one of those internationals for the first week that they’re here in the Triangle region. What a strategic ministry that could be. Imagine seeing some of them come to Christ. Or the host ministry, talk about evangelism, people bring visitors to the church, and Tony is going to be saying at the end more about ways we can get involved, even beginning on Easter Sunday, but then from there on a developing ministry of making our church more hospitable to visitors, so that we can reach out to the people that God brings us.

And then finally, hospitality is strategically vital in the area of discipleship. So much of the Christian life is what we say caught rather than taught. How valuable is it for, let’s say, a more established family that’s got older kids to take in a younger married couple that’s just getting going in life, or has a newborn so that they can put their life on display and say, “This is how we discipline our children or this is how we train them or these are the things we do for a family, devotion time, this how we eat a meal together,” and it helps you to be better too, as well. You want to put your best face on and to have guests from the outside, things just go so well at that point, and there’s just a sweet spirit. So it’s a beautiful inducement both ways.

But discipleship works that way. And then the home fellowships are discipleship times. We have developing home fellowship ministry but we had a practical problem, we didn’t have enough host families. And so some of the home fellowships have 25 or 30 people in them, that’s large. And as a result, it’s hard to get everybody in one room. The fellowship’s not as intimate. We need more host families for the fall. So that’s about as practical as it gets. Be willing to open your home on a Sunday evening and have a home fellowship.

III. Supernatural Joy in Trials

The final area of Christian life that I want to talk about here is supernatural joy and trials. Verse 12, it says, “Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” It seems to me as I look at the Christian life that God has given us the challenge of waiting on him. And I told you the third sweet thing for me is that the best is yet to come. But sometimes it seems like I’ll never get there. Do you ever feel that way? When do we get to see the Lord, when do we get to be in his presence? And it’s even harder when you’re going through a trial, isn’t it?

Maybe it’s a chronic illness, maybe it’s a chronic financial problem, joblessness, for example, maybe there’s other issues that make life here on earth very shrill and difficult, but here God is calling on you to be joyful in hope and patient in affliction and faithful in prayer. What does Paul mean by be joyful in hope? Well, first of all, he’s not talking about a natural hope, you know what I’m talking about? Like, “I hope my team wins the NCAA tournament,” something like that. I don’t want to drag us down into the mundane from the sublime, but that’s a kind of a temporal hope that rarely gets fulfilled. Or an unemployed person could say, “I hope I get the job I’m interviewing for.” Or even a lonely person in a nursing home can say, “I hope somebody visits me this week.”

Well, those hopes are fleeting. That’s not what we’re talking about here when we talk about be joyful in hope. Christian hope is a certainty that’s coming to us some day based on the promise of God, you just don’t have it yet. That’s not a technical definition, but that’s what it is, it’s something you will most certainly get because God said you would get it, you just don’t have it yet. And based on that, we get 11 chapters of what that hope is and from that draw on it, like from a bank account. Be joyful in the hope that someday you’re going to be with Christ, even as you’re facing great afflictions.

I have seen in this church people go through afflictions in marvelous ways. I’ve seen people get diagnoses of cancer, and keep drawing on their faith in Christ to get through it. I’ve seen it again and again, it’s one of the most beautiful aspects of the Christian life. I’ve also seen, not so much in this church, but I’ve seen people go through difficult trials, and they begin to question God. They begin to murmur against him and they begin to abandon their prayer life. That’s why Paul combines be faithful in prayer, keep praying even when things don’t seem to be going your way. George Mueller, the great prayer warrior, said it well, when he said, “The great fault of the children of God is they do not continue in prayer, they don’t go on praying, they do not persevere.” This is a man who recorded over 50,000 answers to prayer, but also prayed for over 50 years for something he never received while he was alive. God waited until after he was dead to give it to him.

Be faithful in prayer. Jesus told many parables on this, like the parable of the unrighteous judge and the widow who kept coming again and again and again. Why did he tell that prayer, except that he’s not necessarily going to grant you everything you want right away, but he wants you to be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

Now, today we have looked at three aspects of the supernatural life that God is calling on Christians to live. My question to you is, do you see this power at work in your life? Perhaps you’ve already made a commitment to Christ, you’ve already come to faith in Christ, you’ve already given your life to him, but you’re not seeing this kind of love flowing through you for the brothers and sisters in Christ. You’re not seeing the humility that you’d like to see where you honor somebody above yourself. Maybe you haven’t been hospitable, you haven’t opened your home to anybody sacrificially. Maybe you don’t see this is what you want, or maybe you’ve allowed the trials of your life to get you inward-focused, get you bitter, get you down.

You know, God, when he comes to us through the Scripture, calls on us to repent, and to turn back and say, “I want to live this kind of life. This is my inheritance while I live here on this Earth. God work it in me.” But I said at the beginning, if you’re not a Christian, you can’t live this kind of life. My hope then is that the description of it will be inducement to get you to look at the cross and say, “I want Jesus, not only because I could live this kind of a life here on Earth, but because when I die I can be with him forever in glory. That’s what I yearn for.”

Don’t leave this place without having trusted in Christ as your Savior. Close with me in prayer.

These are only preliminary, unedited outlines and may differ from Andy’s final message.

Introduction:

Romans 12 gives insight into the supernatural lives of Christians… lives that can only be lived by the power of God

Last week, we saw that this supernatural life is a matter of a transformed heart: “Love must be sincere.” We also saw that it is a life of fiery passion, of genuine zeal in service to the Lord

“Never be lacking in zeal, but keep you spiritual fervor serving the Lord.”

As I mentioned last week, the only way this supernatural life is possible is by trusting in the blood of Christ for the forgiveness of our sins, and by the gift of the indwelling Spirit

In other words, only Christians can live this supernatural life

Today we will look at three extremely ATTRACTIVE aspects of this supernatural life… attractive because they have the power to draw people into deep relationship with the heavenly Father when they see how we live our lives

■      Supernatural Love for the Family of God

■      Supernatural Hospitality and Generosity

■      Supernatural Joy in Trials

I.   Supernatural Love for the Family of God

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

A.  The Worldwide Family of God

1.  Upon being saved, we enter the worldwide family of God

a.  It is truly international

b.  It is made up of people from almost every ethnic group in the world

c.  It is made up of people in every station in life

d.  It is made up of people at all ages and both genders

2.  This Family is Supernatural in Origin

John 1:12-13 Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God– 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

a.  God is our eternal Father…we are His adopted children

b.  Christ is our Head and our Elder Brother

Hebrews 2:11  Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers.

3.  The Family is United by the Spirit and by Truth: we all believe the same things about God and Christ, sin and death, heaven and hell… and we are all made one by the common indwelling Spirit

B.  Love for the Family of God Inevitable Fruit of Faith

1 John 5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well.

1 John makes the point again and again: If you don’t love other Christians, you are not a Christian yourself

1 John 4:20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

This is the very thing that Paul is commanding in Romans 12… a supernatural love for the family of God

Sadly… it doesn’t always happen this way!!

C.  Contrasting Churches

The fact that churches often have bitter and divisive conflicts is an old one:

■      The Corinthian church was rife with divisions

■      In Philippi, Euodia and Syntyche couldn’t get along

■      Even Paul and Barnabas had such a sharp disagreement over John Mark that they agreed to part company

What a contrast to the supernatural church of the book of Acts:

1.  A supernatural church in the Book of Acts

■      A church that devoted itself DAILY to studying the teaching of the apostles

■      A church that shared everything in common with the poor and needy in their number

■      A church that sold lands and houses and laid the money at the apostles’ feet so that the poor could have their needs met

■      A church that spent all night praying for Peter to be released from prison

■      A church that took up amazingly generous collections among poor Gentile believers to relieve poor Jewish believers

■      A church that was characterized by boldness in the gospel and hospitality to the saints

D.  Paul’s Clear Statements

Romans 12:10 Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves.

1.  Paul combines two Greek words for love here… one a genial love and affection for someone, a deep tender affection of open love; WITH a family love, the love that comes from being in a family

2.  Pictured again and again in Acts… like the love the church showed Paul

■      The way the elders from Ephesus weep over never seeing Paul again

■      The way the church at Tyre kneels with him in prayer on the beach

■      The way they opened their homes to him again and again in hospitality

■      The way they used their spiritual gifts to strengthen him

■      The way they prayed for him

■      The way each group of Christians greeted him warmly

E.  Humility or glorious competition?

NIV Romans 12:10 Honor one another above yourselves.

1.  NIV emphasizes humility

a.  Prefer others ahead of yourself… think of them as better than you are, seek to meet their needs ahead of your own, think of issues from their points of view

b.  We see others as they will be eventually, and we see ourselves as we are now… they will someday be glorious and we are presently sinful

Illus. Pilgrim’s Progress, Part 2: Christiana and Mercy at the Interpreter’s House with Christiana’s children; Interpreter clothes them all in radiant white garments symbolic of their standing as pure in Christ

Amazingly though, none of them could see the beauty of their own garments, but only those of the others! So they all genuinely felt that they were shabby and unholy in comparison with their brothers and sisters in Christ!!

This is what it means to “honor one another above yourselves”

c.  It gets very practical too… it means to prefer someone else’s needs or opinions above your own

Philippians 2:4 Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.

i)  So many churches divide over trivial matters…

ii)  Redecorating schemes, building programs, which organ to buy

iii)  Of course weightier matters like worship style and evangelistic strategies can also be sources of division

iv)  Paul calls on Christians to HONOR OTHERS AHEAD OF YOURSELF

d.  Especially important in a church… which is the most complex and diverse organism in the world; different ages, different social backgrounds, different cultures, different genders, different needs, different expectations… a recipe for disaster if not for supernatural humility

2.  Interestingly, ESV emphasizes almost a holy competition in doing good

ESV Romans 12:10 Outdo one another in showing honor.

a.  Let’s see who can serve the most

b.  Let’s see who can be the most humble, the most charitable

Illus. George Whitfield, the great Calvinistic evangelist of the First Great Awakening, had a deep disagreement with John Wesley, the father of the Methodist church, over predestination. At the height of their disagreement, Whitefield was asked, “Do you think you shall see John Wesley in heaven?” Whitefield answered, “No, I don’t.” The questioner must have felt shocked until Whitfield added with characteristic humility, “I believe Mr. Wesley shall be so close to the throne and I so far away that I don’t think I shall see him!”

I desire to see the kind of deep affection for the family of God that led people to kneel on the beach in prayer and weep for the Apostle Paul to develop here

3.  A large part of that will be the hospitality and generosity described in vs. 13

II.   Supernatural Hospitality and Generosity

Romans 12:13 Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

A.  Paul’s Command: Pursue Generous Hospitality

1.  The words imply a constant seeking of hospitality… a constant readiness for it, a disposition toward it

2.  The Greek word for hospitality is literally “love for strangers” or “love for aliens”

3.  Old Testament foundation:

Leviticus 19:33-34 ‘When a stranger resides with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. 34 ‘The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the LORD your God.

4.  Strongest New Testament support: the Sheep and the Goats

Matthew 25:34-35 ” I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in

5.  Deep concept: Our welcome in heaven depends on God’s love for strangers

a.  We were aliens to God, outsiders, strangers, foreigners

Ephesians 2:12-13 remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. 13 But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ.

Ephesians 2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God

b.  God opened His home to us, welcomed us at His table, accepted us into His family

B.  Hospitality in the New Testament

1.  Basic concept: no other option when you traveled

a.  There were far fewer inns or hotels

b.  No Holiday Inn, no Motel 6 with Tom Beaudette “leavin’ the light on for ya”…no Marriot, certainly no Hyatts or Ritz Carltons

c.  For the most part, travelers depended on hospitality to meet their needs

2.  Christ’s first missionary instructions: Matthew 10

a.  Christ Sent Apostles Out Depending on It

Matthew 10:11-13 “Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave. 12 As you enter the home, give it your greeting. 13 If the home is deserving, let your peace rest on it; if it is not, let your peace return to you.

b.  Christ promised eternal rewards to any who received them and cared for them… even if it was just a cup of cold water!!

3.  Later the apostles totally depended on it

a.  Peter stayed at Simon the Tanner’s home when he had the vision of the sheet with all the unclean animals that led to him preaching the gospel to Cornelius

b.  Paul stayed at many guest homes… Acts 21 is full of hospitality for Paul & his traveling companions… Philip the evangelist, Mnason

c.  Paul was staying at Gaius’s house when he wrote Romans!!!

Romans 16:23 Gaius, whose hospitality I and the whole church here enjoy, sends you his greetings.

d.  John commended hospitality in 2 John and 3 John… as a matter of fact, I believe hospitality is THE KEY ISSUE… 2 John negatively… what kind of teachers (namely, false teachers) you should NOT have in your home, 3 John positively, thanking the elders for their hospitality to true teachers

3 John 1:5-8 Dear friend, you are faithful in what you are doing for the brothers, even though they are strangers to you. 6 They have told the church about your love. You will do well to send them on their way in a manner worthy of God. 7 It was for the sake of the Name that they went out, receiving no help from the pagans. 8 We ought therefore to show hospitality to such men so that we may work together for the truth.

4.  Early churches were frequently house churches… those churches totally depended on private individuals’ willingness to keep opening up their homes… Like Lydia in Philippi

Acts 16:15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.

5.  Hospitality came to extend to anyone who opened his home for the sake of the Kingdom

1 Peter 4:9 Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.

6.  Church leaders were especially commanded to be hospitable… like the requirements for elders in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1… both require HOSPITALITY

7.  1 Timothy 5: Widows could not be put on a support list if they weren’t hospitable

8.  The most intriguing case: Hebrews 13:2

Hebrews 13:2 Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

C.  Hospitality Today: Case Studies from the Negative and Positive Sides

1.  One observer of American culture said this:

“You know what we get for our affluence? We get ISOLATION!”

Why would anyone want isolation? Because people are complicated and messy… so you can build walls to keep them out

Also we have become a very fluid society, where people no longer feel the need to reach out to newcomers in their communities because they are new themselves

This is especially true in churches, where people change membership so frequently and thus feel little sense of ownership about making visitors feel welcome

The result has been a sad abandonment of a culture of hospitality in the American church

2.  Alexander Strauch’s (The Hospitality Commands) sad experiences

■      An elderly single woman had to travel more than an hour by bus to attend a small suburban church. Each week after the Sunday morning service, she would eat alone in a restaurant and then spend the entire afternoon in a park or library so that she could attend the evening service. She did this for four years. What left her with sour memories of this church was that in four years no one invited her home to eat a Sunday afternoon meal or to rest. It wasn’t until she announced she was leaving that an elderly woman invited her home for a meal on her final Sunday

■      Strauch himself reported a similar experience: “At time I have traveled as long as two or three hours in order to preach at a church. In some instances when I finished speaking I was handed a check, invited to return, given many friendly handshakes, and bid a warm goodbye. But no one thought to invite me home for a meal, to provide rest before my ling drive home, or to seek further fellowship with me after this Sunday evening service.”

3.  More positively:

a.  We have seen and experienced incredible hospitality from members of FBC

b.  When our growing family first came to Durham, we stayed at the home of Tony and Susan Fisher… I will NEVER forget the love they showed us right from the beginning of our ministry here… except that Tony tried to brainwash my little girl Carolyn, who was all of two years old at the time, saying she was “Mr. Fisher’s girl”! But a small price to pay for the sweet fellowship we enjoyed

c.  Or during the ice storm of December, 2002, when many people were driven out of their homes by extended power outages, many FBC members took others in and cared for them… we had a delightful stay at the homes of Bob and Linda Hatcher, and Ralph and Jenny Sears

d.  One family, Stephen and Joyce Young made hospitality especially to undesirable unbelieving outsiders a major part of their ministry in Pennsylvania… they have continued that with Internationals here

e.  I have seen others regularly use meals to extend Christian love to us and others

f.  Others regularly open their homes to Christians… even to the point of having people stay with them for a year or more!!

g.  So… there is a wonderful spirit of hospitality at FBC; but it could develop even more than it has

D.  Hospitality Well-Suited for FBC’s Ministries

1.  Hospitality Well-Suited for Fellowship

a.  We are a commuter church, with a struggle to maintain fellowship and community… so hospitality will be HUGE for FBC’s future

b.  For us to develop deeper friendships, we have to go beyond merely the time we have here in this building

2.  Hospitality Well-Suited for Generosity

a.  For us to share the good things God has given us with the Body of Christ, we must open our homes to each other

Romans 12:13 Share with God’s people who are in need.

Perhaps verse 13 should be read all together… “Share with God’s people who are in need BY practicing hospitality.”

But the command to be supernaturally generous to the Body of Christ extends beyond mere hospitality… giving financially to the relief of Christian poor around the world is an excellent way to obey this command

But locally, hospitality is one of the best ways to do this

3.  Hospitality Well-Suited for Evangelism

a.  The gospel is weighty cargo that has to travel over a study bridge built by trust… while contact evangelism can be effective, friendship evangelism is even more so!

b.  Open up your home to unbelieving friends

c.  Hospitality evangelism

d.  Neighborhood bible studies

e.  Internationals!!!!

i)  If EVER there was a connection to “I was a stranger and you invited me in”, this is it

ii)  Many internationals come from cultures where hospitality is regularly practiced, and they testify that they are stunned by the lack of openness by Americans… many have never been invited once to an American home, never once shared a meal at an American table

iii)  If you are interested in hosting an international student, talk to me or Dave Follrod or anyone connected with the International Ministry

iv)  One ministry avenue available to us is to host an international just as they enter the country before they get established at Duke… to have them stay with us for a week or so… WHAT AN INCREDIBLE and PRIME opportunity for hospitality evangelism!!!!!!!!!!!!!

f.  HOST ministry: Just being friendly to visitors here at the church… thinking about how to make this church a visitor friendly church

i)  Easter Sunday… clearing out central area of parking lot for guests

ii)  Tony Fisher will be recruiting people for HOST ministry trial run, just for Easter… to welcome these folks warmly and thinking about how

4.  Hospitality Well-Suited for Discipleship

a.  Home fellowships: we host a home fellowship and the people who come never fail to thank us for opening their homes to us

b.  Older godly families modeling healthy family life for young

c.  One on one discipleship… things caught not taught

1 Corinthians 11:1 Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.

E.  The Power of Hospitality

1.  Stacy McDonald: Raising Maidens of Virtue

2.  Chapter entitled “The Cheerful Voice of Hospitality”

3.  Began with a personal testimony of how God used the hospitality of a Christian family to bring an unsaved father to faith in Christ

4.  Notice the detail… notice how hospitality done well means thinking carefully ahead of time about the needs of your guest, and making them feel as though it is the greatest delight and privilege in the world to have them as a guest

Travel weary and hungry, our family arrived in town just before dark. My six-year old brother Thomas had fallen asleep upright in the back seat, hugging his bear. Papa peered at each house number trying to find the address for our friends the Millers.

“There it is,” Mama said, “5526, the house with the geraniums by the mailbox!” Mama carried the baby while I, being the oldest boy, helped Papa with the luggage.

Thomas cuddled closer to his bear in the backseat. “Are we there yet?” he purred sleepily.

The scent of cinnamon and cloves drifted out to greet us as we stood on the porch. Suddenly the door flew open, and we were ushered in by a happy crowd of curly-blonde Miller children.

“Here, let me carry that for you,” they all seemed to say at once. The oldest daughter added, “Can I get you something to drink?” The eight year old Miller son proudly chirped, “Mama said you’re sleepin’ in my room, so I cleaned it up extra special!”

Mr. and Mrs. Miller met us in the doorway grinning. Mama hugged Mrs. Miller and whispered her thankfulness for good friends and warm welcomes, and Papa and Mr. Miller shook hands. Thomas smiled as the youngest Miller girl giggled and offered him a toy.

The Miller’s home was warm and cozy, and without a word, we somehow knew we were welcome. Fresh fruit, cheese, and warm homemade bread were waiting for us in the parlor. The oldest Miller daughter served us herbal tea in little teacups…

The beautiful violin music that drifted through the house enhanced the conversation rather than suppressed it.

Mrs. Miller and her daughters served our family with joy and ease. It seemed so natural—as if they were doing what they were created to do.

I observed how Mr. Miller pulled back Mrs. Miller’s chair before she sat, and I noticed a lump in my throat as he prayed over our meal at dinner with such passion and genuine gratefulness to his God.

Later that evening, we found our rooms carefully prepared with fresh herbs and flowers by the bedside, soft sheets and warm snuggly quilts on the beds. Floral-scented linen baskets complete with little shampoos, soaps, and a Bible sat on an old trunk in the corner.

As I slept under the warm comforter that night, the lavender potpourri stirred pleasant thoughts of our friends, the Millers. I wondered what it was that made me feel so warm and good whenever we were here.

The Millers were Christians, but I had met Christians before—the man screaming on television and asking for money was a Christian. And the lady who lives next door to us must be a Christian because she has one of those fish symbols on her car—and she handed me a gospel tract once—but she must not like being a Christian much because she never smiles. Mr. and Mrs. Miller seem to smile all the time. But Papa says the Millers are a different kind of Christian.

Papa says being around the Millers makes him consider his ways. Tonight I saw him sitting in the corner thumbing through the Bible the Millers left in our guest towel basket. I wonder if being at the Millers’ house makes Papa feel sad inside instead of warm and good like it does me, because just as I was drifting off to sleep, I saw Mama kneeling beside Papa, and I could have sworn I heard him weeping.” [Stacy McDonald, Raising Maidens of Virtue]

This kind of sensitive thoughtfulness is the gospel put on display

It is supernaturally powerful for setting a context for the sharing of the actual message of the gospel

III.   Supernatural Joy in Trials

Romans 12:12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.

A.  The Most Bitter Lesson

Michael Card, “Maranatha”: the word means “Come, Lord!” a song about the cry of an afflicted heart going through trials

“It’s certain that waiting’s the most bitter lesson, a believing heart has to learn.”

1.  God has ordained that we wait here on earth for our reunion with Him

2.  In that time, we are to be faithfully advancing the Kingdom of God

3.  We are also to be growing in grace internally

4.  Both of those infinite journeys involve suffering and pain

5.  HOW we suffer, what kind of attitude we have in the trial is huge

6.  God is calling to a supernatural joy, a supernatural patience, a supernatural faithfulness

B.  Joyful in Hope

1.  Hope is a major theme in the Book of Romans… but the ordinary kind of hope

2.  Natural hope is a common and feeble thing

a.  Excited child: “I hope the ballgame doesn’t get rained out!”

b.  Unemployed person: “I hope I get the job I’m interviewing for”

c.  A single person: “I hope I meet someone at church”

d.  Nursing home: “I hope someone visits me today”

All are feeble because they are uncertain… many may not happen; we get used to disappointments

3.  Biblical hope is different: a sure and certain blessing that is promised to believers based on the finished work of Christ

Romans 8:23-25 Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. 24 For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? 25 But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.

4.  The center of it all: that someday we will be in heaven with Christ, glorious, in resurrection bodies, free forever from all death, mourning, crying and pain

5.  This is the bedrock foundation of JOY… it never moves because it is based on the purposes and promises of God… His omnipotence is under your joy

6.  Note: our hope is founded on doctrine… the ELEVEN CHAPTERS of doctrine that Paul gave us in Romans 1-11… the eternal purposes of God in Christ, unshakeable because of the sovereignty of God

Now we see the value of eleven chapters of solid Christian doctrine

Some practical minded people want to skip the doctrine and get immediately to practical advice miss the root of the beautiful flowers of hope

“Paul an apostle of Christ Jesus, to the church of Christ at Rome… Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Amen.” End of book!
Cut flower hope will wilt… hope rooted and grounded in the promises of God will survive any trial

C.  Patient in Affliction

1.  Longsuffering… not caving in and questioning; demanding from God an explanation for why you are suffering what you are

2.  God sometimes drags us through the most horrendous circumstances imaginable and people are tempted to question God, to murmur against Him

3.  They forget that God is the same one who will to crush His own Son and cause Him to suffer on the cross for us and for our salvation… He TORTURED HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON… His perfect Son in whom was all His delight… made Him scream in agony so that our sins could be atoned for

4.  And we think God will not bring us through cancer or the death of a child or financial ruin or failure or unanswered prayer

5.  Yet by His power He gives us a supernatural patience through the trial

6.  I have seen this at work in our church… as several people with cancer have walked through that severe trial with unwavering trust in Christ

7.  It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen in my life, and it strengthened my own hope

8.  BUT it is supernatural… it cannot be faked or imitated… it comes directly from Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit

D.  Faithful in Prayer

George Mueller, the great prayer warrior said it well, when he said, “The great fault of the children of God is, they do not continue in prayer; they do not go on praying; they do not persevere!”)

This is a man who had over 50,000 specific answers to prayer, but who also prayed for over fifty years for something without ever receiving it!!

1.  How quick we are to stop praying when we don’t get our way

2.  How easy it is for us to get discouraged and faint in prayer and stop

3.  In Luke 18, Christ told parable after parable about prayer, teaching His disciples that they should always pray and never give up

Luke 18:1-7 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. 2 He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ 4 “For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually wear me out with her coming!'” 6 And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off?

a.  The reason He tells this parable is that God will test our patience by not answering our prayers right away

b.  Praying faithfully is unnatural… so GIVING UP in prayer is the most natural thing in the world

c.  God is calling us to pray supernaturally… and that means being faithful in prayer over a long period of time, even when it seems God is not answering

Today we have considered three other aspects of the supernatural life God is calling on Christians to live

■      Supernatural Love for the Family of God

■      Supernatural Hospitality and Generosity

■      Supernatural Joy in Trials

God has made power for this kind of life available through the shed blood of Christ and the Spirit of God

BUT only Christians can experience this… if you have never trusted in Christ, turn to him now… realize that this kind of supernatural life on earth can be yours… and even better, eternal life awaits you in God’s presence.

TRUST CHRIST TODAY!!!